Max Verstappen is at the top of the world. On Saturday, in the Chinese GP qualifying, he matched Mika Hakkinen’s 25-year-old record of securing five pole positions in the first five races of the year. Moreover, he also brought Red Bull their 100th pole position in Formula 1. The Chinese GP today was a continuation of this picturesque driving. But he nearly risked his perfect run in Shanghai by taking his Red Bull for a literal spin in the last lap of the Chinese GP.

Verstappen’s RB20 was the unrivaled fastest car at the Shanghai International Circuit. In his opening stint, he built a lead that even his teammate Sergio Perez couldn’t close. Lando Norris was the surprise package that broke Red Bull’s 1-2 expectations to take P2. Nonetheless, the Dutchman built a lead of over 14 seconds over Norris.

In the closing stages, Verstappen just started having fun. He added over 1 second to his lead in the last 2 laps. Moreover, before the chequered flag, he intentionally troubled his race engineer, asking him to pay attention to his onboard. “GP, look at the onboard,” he said, before violently turning his car left and right as if it were a formation lap.

One mistake during that, and it would’ve been tons of dollars worth of repairs for Red Bull. After the race, Verstappen was asked the reason behind his funny “power slides.” “Well, a Formula 1 car hasn’t been designed for drifting,” he replied with a cheeky smile.

“See, if it was a rally car, I could’ve completely turned it. But that’s a bit more difficult in a Formula 1 car. But we were ahead a lot, of course. Having a bit of fun is allowed.”

At this point, the three-time champion is just performing side quests. His comments after the Chinese GP also show the ominous reality, which is that he already has one hand in the 2024 World Championship.

Max Verstappen was left surprised by Red Bull’s “on-rails” pace

The last time the F1 world witnessed such dominance was never. Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton had indeed conquered Formula 1 in their prime, but not like this. With this victory in Shanghai, Max Verstappen has earned Red Bull their 116th win in Formula 1. To everybody’s surprise, even the 3-time champ didn’t expect such pace from his RB20.

“It felt amazing,” Verstappen said post-race. “All weekend we were incredibly quick, and it was just enjoyable to drive. The car was basically on rails, and I could do whatever I wanted with it. Those kinds of weekends are amazing to feel.”

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Though he has yet to reach the 7 World Championships mark like Schumacher or Hamilton, the Dutchman’s performances are already past the goosebumps-inducing stage. The Miami GP up next is an opportunity for Verstappen to go past Mika Hakkinen’s 1999 pole record and cruise to yet another win, as he did in 2023, putting his teammate Perez’s pace to shame.